Argh.. Once more before I go to the beach.
I have gone to great lengths to stress that I am not trying to say the USAF kicks everybody elses ass, we have the best pilots, and we are 100% ironclad unbeatable.
Felix, I don't know what the point of your post was (agreement/mockery/criticism/whatever), but, yes that's what I'm saying (although I didn't say #3, somebody else did). It would appear as though every item on that list is true, to the extent of my knowledge.
I continue to say that we're not the best because, AS REQUESTED by the mods, I'm trying very hard to maintain some level of friendly diplomacy here, so this doesn't turn into any more of a pissing match than it already is. Is it that hard to see?
So, the only two things that I've been saying that matter-
EXPERIENCE
PRACTICE
(in large-scale modern air wars)
THANKYOU CRUMBSO for posting the first thing that actually pertains to my original argument in the last three pages.
Good points-I personally think (obviously don't have any first-hand experience) that FF incidents are, at most, 50% command's fault, because in the end it's the pilot who is making the id and pulling the trigger-I believe this happened because the convoy didn't have the required something or other that glows when pilots look at it through something-I know, very official, but all I know is there is something that marks friendlies to pilots, placed inside their vehicles. That doesn't excuse the pilot, of course, and I'm sure we could find other unexplainable FF situations involving US planes.
J, I would agree practice doesn't make perfect-it doesn't mean that we haven't had more of it than most other nations. Once again, all I'm saying is we've had more practice. Not that we're the best. I may THINK, personally, that we're the best, but once again, back to the whole diplomacy thing. I'm trying to stick to facts here-the primary one I'm using:
-we've been engaged in more modern mass-scale air wars, and whoever participated, it was under US command.
There. That's my argument. Man, I should've just posted that the first time
I'll refer to my buddy as Jeff.
Never once has he ever said "yeah, we're the best", he was just telling me how we've gotten really, really good at keeping hundreds of planes in the air0primarily because we've been doing it since 'nam.
I'm hoping that clears it up.